Before TDI
by Icee Suicune
Summary: It's funny how easy it is to forget about the people in your childhood.
1. Play Date

"No, mommy! Please! I don't wanna go!" A young boy whined. His mother held his hand, dragging him to the family car.

"Come on, Cody! Your playmate's been looking forward to this for a long time!" Cody's mom said.

"How do you know?" Cody asked.

"Her mommy told me."

"It's a girl? Ew, Mommy, girls have cooties!" Cody whined. "If you make me play with her, I-I might die!"

Cody's mom laughed. "Cody, you're not going to die from the 'cooties.'"

"Huh?" Cody looked confused. "Why?"

"You got a cootie shot last time you went to the doctor. Remember?"

"Humph! Mommy's are too sneaky…" Cody pouted. His mother picked him up and put him in his car seat.

…

When Cody and his mother reached the park, it took a good ten minutes for Cody's mom to get him out of his car seat. Eventually, Cody's mom dragged him to the playground. Cody's mom scanned the playground, and she seemed to perk up when she saw another woman with an infant and a girl Cody's age sitting on a bench.

"Cody, go play for a moment," His mom said, waving her hand at Cody. She started talking to the woman, who also waved her child way. Cody wandered aimlessly, avoiding the girl. The girl walked a few steps away from her mother, eyes locked on Cody. Cody couldn't help but stare himself. The girl had black hair with teal highlights. She also wore a Hello Kitty shirt and pants with flowers printed on them. She also had these piercing black eyes that seemed strange for a five year old.

_So this is the cootie girl mommy is forcing me to play with…_ Cody thought. _She doesn't look too bad…_

Both mothers gestured their children to come over to them. The girl's mother started whispering something to her, and Cody's mother lowered her voice.

"Now Cody," She said. "I know you don't want to play with this girl, but please, be nice."

"Why should I?" Cody whined. His mother sighed.

"Cody, this girl doesn't have a daddy. He walked away one day and never came back."

"Is daddy gonna leave us?" Cody asked.

"No, sweetie. But this girl's mommy works very hard to support her family. It was hard to schedule this play date because this girl's mommy can't get away from work easily. So please, just try to have fun, okay?"

"Okay…" Cody said. His mom smiled.

"Now go play with her. I'll be right here with her mommy, so if you need anything come over to us, okay?" Cody nodded. He walked over to the girl, who was already on the play equiptment.

"Hey, girl, what's your name?" Cody asked.

"Gwen. What's yours?" Gwen asked.

"Cody." He looked at her hair. "Did you put paint in your hair?"

Gwen laughed. "No, silly! Mommy bought me hair clips for my birthday." She pulled at a teal strand of hair. A hair clip with fake hair was pulled from her head. "See?"

"Oh." Cody said.

"Do you wanna wear it?" Gwen offered.

"Okay." Gwen giggled and clipped the hair clip in his hair, right next to his right ear. It was a lot longer than the rest of his hair, and it went to his shoulder.

"Do you wanna play fashion models?" Gwen asked.

"Yuck! No way! I wanna play astronauts!" Cody said. Gwen looked melancholy. She suddenly perked up, though.

"I have an idea!" Gwen said. "Let's play fashion astronauts!"

"Uh, okay, but we have to be attacked by aliens and they have to be from Mars." Gwen shrugged.

"They can be the split end aliens."

…

After a half hour of Fashion Astronauts, Gwen and Cody sat down by a tree to rest.

"Hey, Cody, why do you have a gap in your teeth?" Gwen asked. Cody shrugged.

"I don't know. Why do you have black hair?"

"I don't know. I guess we can't know everything." Gwen said. They sat in silence for a few more minutes. Then Gwen looked at Cody.

"Cody, will you marry me?"

Cody, who was previously lying down, jolted up. "What?!"

"Not now, silly! When we're grown ups. Ya'know, like our mommy's ages." Gwen said.

Cody sat for a little bit, staring into space. "Okay."

Gwen smiled. "Yay!" She kissed Cody on the cheek. He didn't change expression at all, he just wiped his cheek.

"Yuck! Don't kiss me! Only married people do that."

Gwen giggled. "Sorry,"

"It's okay." Cody said, hugging her.

Meanwhile, Cody's mother and Gwen's mother looked at their children, laughing quietly.

"Aw, they look so cute," Cody's mom said.

"You never know," Gwen's mom said.

…

After a few more months of play dates, Cody and Gwen became best friends. They spent so much time together, people didn't know them individually. They were known as 'Cody and Gwen.' One day, Cody's mom got a phone call. When she hung up, she called Cody over to her.

"What's the matter, Mommy?" Cody said.

"I just got a call from Gwen's mommy."

"Are we gonna play together?" Cody asked.

His mother shook her head. "No, dear. Gwen's mommy got a new job, and she, along with Gwen and her brother, have to move away."

"Can we still play?"

"I'm sorry, Cody. They're moving far away from here. I don't think you'll see Gwen again for a really long time." His mother said, trying to give some hope to her only son.

"It's not fair! Gwen's my bestest friend!" Cody cried. He just hugged his mother and bawled.

"Calm down, sweetie. You can say goodbye to Gwen tomorrow if you want."

"O-okay," Cody sobbed.

…

The next day, Cody's mom drove him to the park. When they got there, they saw Gwen and her mother sitting on a bench. Gwen's mother was holding her daughter, rocking her gently. Gwen was crying. Cody ran over to her, holding a flower he picked.

"Gwen, I brought a flower for you," Cody said.

Gwen looked up and wiped her eyes. "Th-thanks…" She said quietly.

Cody reached into his pocket. "I still have your hair clip. You want it back, don't you?"

"You can have it, so you can remember me. 'Sides, I have bunches more."

Gwen's mom looked at her watch. "Sweetie, we have to go in a few minutes." She put her daughter down and started talking with Cody's mom. After a few minutes, Gwen had to go.

"Bye, Cody," Gwen said as her mother started the car. Gwen and Cody were standing by her car. "I'll never forget you!" she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Cody had tears in his eyes. "Come back soon so we can get married, 'kay?"

Gwen giggled. "'Kay. Bye," With that, her mother put Gwen in her car seat, closed the door, got into the driver's seat, and drove away. Cody stood and waved at the beat up car until it turned a corner. That's when the tears came heavily. His mother picked him up and carried him to the car.

…

Ever since that day, eleven year ago, Cody and Gwen eventually forgot about each other. They each went to lead totally different lives, Cody trying to be 'cool', and Gwen becoming a loner. They never did meet up again.

_..Modern Day.._

One day, when Cody was cleaning out his closet, he found a box marked 'Childhood memories.' Cody took the box over to his desk. He began going through pictures, old art projects, and a few toys. When he got to the bottom of the box, however, He found something that surprised him.

A hair clip with teal hair.

He asked his mother what it was. She looked surprised when she saw it.

"Oh, well, um, when you were little, you liked to play… dress up?" The last part of that sentence came out sounding more like a question then an answer. Cody just shrugged it off and returned to his room.

…

Gwen was in her kitchen, fixing herself some lunch. When she went over to her kitchen table, she starred at an old, wilted flower. That flower had been there for as long as she could remember, but she had no idea where it came from. When she had asked her mother what it was, she said that it was the first flower Gwen had ever grown. Gwen couldn't imagine herself planting flowers. She broke her train of thought and started eating lunch.

…

**Tell me what you think! On my profile, there's a new poll, so be sure to vote!!**


	2. New Neighbors

"Mommy, can I please go out and play?" A small girl asked her mom.

"Okay, Sadie. But only if you're back before lunch." Sadie's mom said. Sadie giggled and ran outside to play. Sadie went over to her neighbor's house to see if her best friend could play with her. Sadie strained to reach the doorbell on her neighbor's house. A little boy answered the door.

The boy sighed. "What do you want, Sadie?" he asked.

"Hi Noah! Do you want to play?" Sadie asked.

Noah, who was holding a book, entitled 'How to Hotwire North American Motor Vehicles,' groaned. "Sadie, you come over every single day. Every day. Can't you just leave me alone for once?"

Sadie looked sad. "B-but don't cha get lonely?"

Noah laughed. "Are you forgetting that I have eight siblings? It sounds like you're the lonely one. Now go play somewhere else!" Noah slammed the door in Sadie's face.

"N-Noah!" Sadie cried. She ran home crying and ran to her room. Her mother went to check on her.

"Sadie, what's wrong?" she asked.

"N-Noah is m-mean!" Sadie cried. "I don't have friends!" Her mother smiled.

"Sadie, did you know that there's a new family moving next door?"

"R-really?" Sadie cried.

"Yep. And I hear they have a girl your age."

"I wanna meet her!" Sadie yelled with glee.

"Let me get my purse. Then we can go." Sadie's mom left and Sadie ran to her front door.

"Why do mommies always take their purses with them?" Sadie said to herself. Just then her mother appeared and led her to the house next door. Sadie was bobbing up and down with excitement. She was going to have a new best friend!

A woman opened the door. "Hello?"

Sadie's mom smiled. "Hi, I'm Angela Mitchell, and this is my daughter, Sadie." Sadie waved. "We're your new neighbors."

The woman smiled. "How nice of you to stop by! Come in, come in," She said. The house was mainly full of boxes, but there was a small folding table and chairs. Sadie, her mother, and the woman sat down.

"Sorry for the mess," the woman said, laughing. "I'm Jessie Walters."

The mothers started talking and Sadie sat, bored. Soon a little girl walked out of one of the rooms.

"Mommy, have you seen Polly?" the girl asked. She walked over to her mother but she froze when she saw Sadie. "Who's that?" the girl asked.

"Katie, this is Mrs. Mitchell and her daughter, Sadie."

Katie waved at Sadie's mom. "Hi, Mrs. Mitchell. I'm Katie." Katie's mom looked at her.

"What about Sadie?"

Katie scowled. "I don't like her." Sadie's mouth hung open. Without thinking, she ran outside, straight to Noah's house. Sadie started pounding on his door.

"Shut up! I'm coming!" Noah shouted. He opened the door. "Jeeze, Sadie, where's the fire?" he asked sarcastically.

"N- Noah, I- I went to the neighbor's house with Mommy and I wanted to make a new friend that didn't hate me like you do but then she said that she didn't want to be my friend so I ran here even though you don't like me either." Sadie said in one breath.

"Uh, well-" Noah started. He was cut off when Sadie hugged Noah and started bawling.

"No one likes me!" Sadie cried.

"That's not true…. That girl just doesn't know you well… Don't cry…. Sadie, if it makes you fell any better, I'm sorry for slamming the door in you face." Noah said.

"R-really?" Sadie said, smiling through her tears.

Noah smiled. "Yeah. I'm sorry. If you want, I can help earn that girl's friendship," Noah offered.

"Yay! I'm going to have a new friend!"

…

Noah knocked on Katie's door. Mrs. Walters answered the door.

"Hi, I'm Noah. Me and my family live two doors away from you. My mom said that I should meet neighbors. It boosts self – esteem or something."

"Wow, that's a lot of talk from a little kid," Mrs. Walters said, laughing. Noah laughed too. "Come in. My husband's at work, but my daughter should be in the back yard playing with Polly."

"Polly?" Noah asked. "Is Polly her sister or something?"

Mrs. Walters laughed again, this time slightly harder. "N- No," she said, choking on her laughter. She took a few moments to catch her breath. "Polly's our puppy,"

"Oh," Noah said. He followed Mrs. Walters to the backyard.

Meanwhile, Sadie was hiding behind the porch, just within hearing distance of the door. When she heard Noah's footsteps going to the back yard, she ran to the fence leading to the back yard, struggled jumping the fence, and hid behind a bush.

"Katie, there's someone who wants to meet you," Mrs. Walters said.

"Is it that neighbor girl again? Tell her I don't want to play." Katie said, throwing a ball to her pug puppy. The puppy happily retrieved the dog for her master.

"Hey, I'm not a girl…" Noah laughed. Katie, who currently had her back to Noah, slowly turned around.

"Oh, hi. My name's Katie. This is my dog, Polly." Katie said, smiling.

Noah nodded. "I'm Noah. I live a few houses down." He smiled. "Nice to meet someone with sanity here…."

Katie giggled. "You mean that weird girl that came to my house earlier?"

"Hey now, she's a good person if you give her a chance,"

"Aw, and I thought that I could forget about her…" Katie whined.

"Seriously, I think you two came off on the wrong foot. Did you give her much of a chance?" Noah asked.

Katie was silent. She shook her head. "I guess not."

Meanwhile, Katie's mother was watching – and listening – to this from the screen door.

"Wow, I didn't know that a five-year-old's vocabulary could be so mature,"

Now back to our little tykes. Sadie was still behind the bush.

'Yes!' she thought. 'Noah's talking to her. Now maybe she'll give me a chance!' she squealed, but quickly covered her mouth and giggled softly.

"So come on, Katie, let's go give that Sadie girl a chance," Noah said, holding out his hand to Katie. She hesitated at first, but then she grabbed his hand and smiled.

"Yeah!" She squealed. Katie ran ahead, dragging Noah behind her. He couldn't help but smile. Now that Katie was willing to befriend another girl, Sadie would be bugging him a lot less….

Two Months Later

"Noah… Please don't move…" Katie whined.

"Yeah, Noah, you helped me and Katie become BFFFLs," Sadie cried.

Noah smiled, but he had a sad look in his eyes. With his help, Katie and Sadie were inseparable. Even Polly couldn't compete with Sadie for Katie's friendship. Dogs, after all, were man's best friend, but, Katie wasn't a man. Now Noah was moving, and Katie and Sadie couldn't bear the news.

"It's okay, girls. You still have each other," Noah said.

"But who will you have?" Sadie cried.

"Yeah, you won't know anyone in your new town." Katie whined.

"Are you forgetting that I have eight siblings?" Noah said, smiling towards Sadie. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go. Katie, look after Sadie for me. And Sadie, don't bug the new neighbors. They might sue or something."

Sadie giggled, but her eyes were tearing up. "Bye, Noah. I'll always remember you!"

That, of course, wasn't the case.

Katie and Sadie always knew that someone, other than themselves, helped their friend ship start. But they eventually forgot, not even recognizing the person responsible when they arrived at Camp Wawanakwa…


	3. Principal's Office

"Duncan!" An elderly woman shrieked. She stumbled backwards and landed in her chair, her face pale. The kids in the classroom burst into hysterics, and one boy was laughing harder than the rest.

A six year old Duncan hid under a desk and out of his teacher's sight. She had just found the nice little gift he had left her in her desk, and apparently she didn't like mud and frogs as much as he did. He giggled and tried to curl up into a tiny ball to make himself 'invisible.'

His plan was going well until his teacher crouched down and glared at him under the desk. Duncan, who was still giggling, crawled out from his hiding place and headed for the door.

"Duncan, where do you think you're-" His teacher stood up and put her hands on her hips. Duncan opened the door and sighed.

"I know, I know. You were gonna send me to the office." Duncan said. His teacher stared at him, and Duncan waved at her and slammed the door shut. Once he was out in the hallway, he giggled and ran to the boy's bathroom. He climbed up on a sink and looked at himself in the mirror. His mother had always dressed him up all nice and fancy, and Duncan hated it. He messed up his black hair and jumped back down to the floor.

"Okay, Duncan." Duncan clapped his hands together, a very mischievous smile spreading across his face. He went into a stall and grabbed a whole armful of toilet paper. He kicked open the bathroom door and scanned the halls. "Let's go."

-.-.-

"Yes, Mrs. Davidson. He's in the office now... what's that? _Handcuffs?_ I'm sure that we won't need those... oh, I understand. Thank you, ma'am." Principal Malsam sighed and hung up the phone. She paced back and forth in front of her desk with her arms crossed, and Duncan just slumped in his chair, that little smile still on his face. "So, Duncan. Toilet paper?"

Duncan nodded. "I thought it would be funny," he said. Principal Malsam stopped pacing and leaned against her desk, facing Duncan.

"I bet the janitors didn't think it was funny. Or your mother. You little trouble maker." she said.

"Mommy always said I was trouble," Duncan said. He smiled cutely, but Principal Malsam shook her head.

"Oh, no. You're not off the hook yet. I learned my lesson the first six times, so don't think you can weasel your way out of this." Principal Malsam pointed to her door. "Go sit in the hall until your mother gets here."

Frowning, Duncan slid out of the chair that was much too tall for him and walked out the door. When he got to the halls, he in his usual place on the benches that were lining the hallway walls. Usually, he could get out of trouble with a smile or some other dumb cute stuff. But Principal Malsam was getting used to his methods, so he either had to get new material or switch schools... fast.

Someone next to him coughed, and Duncan whipped his head to the side to see a little girl with black hair and pigtails sitting on the bench, holding a pink backpack.

"Hi," she said. Duncan stared at her for a bit, then he turned away. He stared out the wall and daydreamed about how mad his mother would be and how he could get out of trouble with her.

"I said hi," the girl said again. Duncan looked up to see the girl with the pink backpack standing right in front of him.

"What do you want?" Duncan snapped. The girl frowned and stomped on Duncan's foot. "OUCH!"

"You don't talk to ladies like that!" she said. Duncan held his little foot and tried not to cry. For a girl, she was strong.

"But you're not a lady," Duncan smiled. The girl's face turned red, and she grabbed his collar and yanked him up into a standing position, a few inches away from her face.

"Listen, buddy. You're gonna be nice to me, or it's not gonna be pretty." The girl said. Duncan gulped nervously. His feet weren't even touching the ground, and he was starting to choke. He slapped her wrists, and she dropped him and he fell on his butt.

Duncan stared up at her. Her pink backpack was over on the bench, and she was punching her open hand with her fist. "I like you, girl."

The girl frowned. "Well I don't like you, meanie."

"Who are you calling meanie, meanie?" Duncan shot back. He sat back on his place on his bench, and the girl went back to hers. Duncan scooted across the bench so he was right next to the girl. "So what's your name?"

The girl frowned. "I'm not tellin."

"My name's Duncan." he said. "There. I told you mine, so you gotta tell me yours."

"Oh, fine. I'm Eva."

"Where are you from? Because I'm from here." Duncan asked. Eva set her pink backpack next to her feet and kicked the air.

"I lived in a different province before we were here. I'm a new kid." Eva said. Duncan looked at her face, and she looked sad.

"So you don't have any friends?" Eva shook her head. "I'll be your friend then!"

Eva frowned and scooted away from Duncan. "Ew! I don't wanna be your friend! You're a meanine!"

"You are too!" Duncan yelled. He and Eva yelled back and forth about who was the biggest meanie until they couldn't yell anymore.

"Girls sure do talk a lot." Duncan said. Eva punched his arm.

"Oh, shut up!" she said. She looked down at her pink backpack and frowned. All of a sudden, Duncan felt pretty bad about calling Eva bad names. He poked her in the shoulder to get her attention.

"I'm sorry I called you a big meanie, Eva. I still want to be your friend."

Eva looked over at Duncan for a bit, then she smiled. "Okay. I'll be your friend."

Duncan smiled and reached up for a high five. "Yes!" Eva high fived him back, and she accidentally knocked him over.

"Oops," she giggled. Duncan sat up and smiled.

"It's okay. Hey, how about I show you the classrooms?" he said. He took Eva's hand and dragged her off the bench and down the halls.

"But I don't know my teacher yet," Eva said. But she followed Duncan, and they ended up by the bathroom. "Wait... this isn't a classroom,"

Duncan smiled his mischievous little smile again, and he looked at Eva. "You stand there and wait. I have a plan." He ran inside the bathroom, and Eva stood patiently until Duncan came back out again with huge armfuls of toilet paper. Eva raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"What's all that for? Didja have an accident or somehing?" she asked. But Duncan smiled and shook his head.

"Nope, no accidents. I wanted to do this before, but I got caught. But I think you should help me this time, and maybe it will work!" He dumped half of the toilet paper into Eva's arms and nodded his head down the hall. "We're gonna run and throw this all over the place!"

"But my mama said that I shouldn't make messes," Eva said.

"Aw, c'mon! Someone else will pick it all up for you." Duncan said, and he took off running. He was giggling and throwing paper all over, and Eva thought that looked really fun. Everyone broke the rules sometimes, so maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. She ran after Duncan, giggling and throwing toilet paper the whole way.

-.-.-

"Really, Duncan? You _just_ got in trouble for doing this exact thing ten minutes ago!" Principal Malsam snapped. "And you managed to get our new student in trouble too! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Duncan and Eva were slouching in chairs in Principal Malsam's office, exactly how Duncan did the first time he got in trouble that day. They looked at each other and giggled.

"It was worth it."

-.-.-

Since that day, Eva and Duncan became inseparable. The two would get in trouble together, play together... until one day. Duncan had pulled one too many pranks, and he got expelled from that school. He didn't see Eva ever again after that.

Until one Summer, that is.

When Duncan got off the boat and took his first steps on Camp Wawanakwa soil, he noticed a crabby looking girl with a duffel bag stading at the end of the dock, and he couldn't help but think that she looked a bit familiar. He shrugged it off and took his place at the end of the dock. Little did he know that the girl was the little girl with the pink backpack.

-.-.-

_**AN**_

_**Yay, 2 year hiatus and procrastination FTW! :D All I have to say is that this turned out more shippy than I wanted it to. Oh well~**_

_**R&R!**_


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